Dragon Tea House Da Hong Pao *Sale*

I'm new to teachat and have immensely enjoyed the vast amount of knowledge shared by my fellow teachatters. As such I felt compelled to share something I stumbled upon on ebay tonight. I must say that I am unfamiliar with the Dragon Tea House, however I am pretty familiar with a good quality Da Hong Pao.

A quick Ebay search of "Da Hong Pao" gave me a link to DTH's Da Hong Pao which I noticed is currently on sale. I personally went for the 250g / 12.99$ deal, which seems pretty dang good. Again I don't know what the original price they list their DHP, nor the quality of DTH teas, however I figured it was worth a shot. Anyone that is familiar with Dragon Tea House's Da Hong Pao, feel free to chime in, in this regard. Hopefully some of you WuYi lovers will be able to take advantage of this.

MrMang wrote:however I am pretty familiar with a good quality Da Hong Pao.[...]I personally went for the 250g / 12.99$ deal

I don't aim to offend, but this seems kind of inconsistent... isn't a "good quality" DHP going to a couple hundred times more expensive than that? I suppose it all depends on our tastes, but standards seem to run pretty high around here. Read the two threads directly below this one:viewtopic.php?f=3&t=12381viewtopic.php?f=3&t=16636

That being said, DTH is fairly popular on these boards, so I don't think it's a bad choice to order from them.

I do not understand at all what you mean by inconsistent. I said that I am familiar with quality Da Hong Pao, because I have drank quite a bit of DHP, good and bad. So I would be able to deduce a good from bad quality (of course, by taste not by pictures on Ebay). I didn't say that THIS was quality DHP, I simply meant that for 13$ for 250g I think it's worth it to find out for yourself. I had read both of those threads actually and it seemed to be the consensus for DTH's DHP that it was neither good, nor bad.

Now I understand that people's standards for tea may be very high however I have something I have to say in regards to that. Just because a tea is priced reasonably does not mean it is a bad tea. I'm a college student so if I were to buy solely 78$ shou pu cakes and 36$ / 2 oz. wuyis, I'm sorry to say I would absolutely go broke! As such I was forced to experiment with what some may consider "lesser" quality of teas. My opinion on this is simply that if you are a tea drinker there should never be an emphasis on solely drinking "HIGH QUALITY TEA AND NOTHING BUT HIGH QUALITY TEA". Sometimes you have to drink lesser quality in order to appreciate your more premier quality teas.

I have been quite surprised by teas deemed lesser quality, that when brewed correctly can taste better to the individual depending on good tea "company", as well as what I like to refer to as "the tea experience". Whether it be good tea or just decent tea, the most amazing thing about the beverage is that it brings people together.

Anyways, for 13$ lets see... Worst case scenario is it is undrinkable and I would maybe have 250g to drink in a couple years. But i don't think this will be the case.

This is just a side note, but 250 grams is a lot of tea to need to work through if you do not like it. While I can not speak about DTH's Yancha quality, I would encourage anyone to sample a smaller quantity before ordering such a large amount of a single tea.

Though maybe I just have a different point of view where I do not have a great deal of space to store lots of tea, so I tend to place my tea orders based on what types of tea whose stocks need replenishing. It would be an awful chore to work through several hundred grams of a tea I really dislike, before I would feel comfortable ordering more of that type of tea.

AdamMY wrote:This is just a side note, but 250 grams is a lot of tea to need to work through if you do not like it. While I can not speak about DTH's Yancha quality, I would encourage anyone to sample a smaller quantity before ordering such a large amount of a single tea.

Though maybe I just have a different point of view where I do not have a great deal of space to store lots of tea, so I tend to place my tea orders based on what types of tea whose stocks need replenishing. It would be an awful chore to work through several hundred grams of a tea I really dislike, before I would feel comfortable ordering more of that type of tea.

Absolutely true, 250g is a heck of a lot of tea to commit to. To tell you the truth I wasn't going to go for the 250g deal, but I had decided for the money, if it is a reasonable DHP than I would enjoy having 250g of it.

They do have 50g / 5.99$ which would be a perfect starting point to be evaluating whether or not you enjoy DTH's DHP. I went for the 250g because I know if I don't end up liking it for Gongfucha, I could always replace the Persian tea I have steeping on my oven 24/7, with this DHP and it will definitely get drank eventually. Drinking the Persian teas that I do, I am quite used to more bitter tasting teas, so I am curious as to how this would handle more modern steeping methods.

Last edited by MrMang on Mar 26th, '12, 19:40, edited 1 time in total.

Poohblah wrote:Sorry, I didn't mean to provoke such a response. Just wanted to point out that $12/250g tea, especially DHP, likely won't be "high quality."

Seriously though, what is with the passive aggressiveness... I was not insulted by the comment you made, just simply pointing out that I never said I expected 12$ tea to be "high quality". I simply said that I have drank enough DHP to know what IS high quality, so I should be able to assess whatever quality DTH's is. I'm perfectly fine buying a reasonably O.K DHP for 12$.

Furthermore please don't feel you provoked me, because I just wanted to point out to some more tightly bound tea connoisseurs out there it is O.K to take a chance sometimes. Like I said sometimes as a tea drinker you might be surprised how good tea "company" may amplify the taste of a strictly "decent" tea.

Poohblah wrote:Sorry, I didn't mean to provoke such a response. Just wanted to point out that $12/250g tea, especially DHP, likely won't be "high quality."

Seriously though, what is with the passive aggressiveness... I was not insulted by the comment you made, just simply pointing out that I never said I expected 12$ tea to be "high quality". I simply said that I have drank enough DHP to know what IS high quality, so I should be able to assess whatever quality DTH's is. I'm perfectly fine buying a reasonably O.K DHP for 12$.

Furthermore please don't feel you provoked me, because I just wanted to point out to some more tightly bound tea connoisseurs out there it is O.K to take a chance sometimes. Like I said sometimes as a tea drinker you might be surprised how good tea "company" may amplify the taste of a strictly "decent" tea.

To be direct, if you are drinking a $12 DHP. You are not drinking a DHP at all. Hope you realize that. No to be provoking. T

There is no "true" DHP available anymore, since the 6 bushes are protected now (as if any of us could have gotten tea from those bushes before anyway). Tea made from clones could be called DHP, but how many generations of clippings away from the original bushes before it's not DHP? And how close, geographically, must the tea plants be? Can we accept the DHP label even if the cultivar is not the same or the region is not the same, but the processing still brings the tea to a taste and quality similar to that of DHP (similarly to how most "longjing" tea is actually grown in Sichuan, not Hangzhou)?

I feel like this discussion has been hashed out on here, and on various other forums and places in the blogosphere, before...

Thank you Tim for being so direct. What I realize is that for some reason my intention has become completely misconstrued. I was not trying to endorse DTH nor was I trying to emphasize that this was the DHP people pay serious money for. I was merely trying to bring light to a sale from a particularly liked tea vendor on EBAY. To quote myself I said in my first post "I must say that I am unfamiliar with the Dragon Tea House, however I am pretty familiar with a good quality Da Hong Pao." And then "Again I don't know what the original price they list their DHP, nor the quality of DTH teas, however I figured it was worth a shot. Anyone that is familiar with Dragon Tea House's Da Hong Pao, feel free to chime in, in this regard." Simply to imply that I would be able to deduce the quality of a good from lesser quality DHP.

I don't know how somewhere along those lines what I said got interpreted as this being a deal where you get high quality tea for dirt cheap. While I agree this is most likely not pure DHP, I would argue to say if it is good tea for 5.99$ for 50g why not try it out? I have had the "real" DHP before and paid the real DHP prices so I know enough not to expect much from a 13$ tea.

And you know Tim, it is in my experience when someone says they are not meaning to provoke that actually quite the opposite can be said. Why point it out if your intention was not to be provoking.

Not to say that you or Pooh were being provoking .

Happy Tea Moments,Mr. M

Last edited by MrMang on Mar 26th, '12, 20:31, edited 3 times in total.

There is no "true" DHP available anymore, since the 6 bushes are protected now (as if any of us could have gotten tea from those bushes before anyway). Tea made from clones could be called DHP, but how many generations of clippings away from the original bushes before it's not DHP? And how close, geographically, must the tea plants be? Can we accept the DHP label even if the cultivar is not the same or the region is not the same, but the processing still brings the tea to a taste and quality similar to that of DHP (similarly to how most "longjing" tea is actually grown in Sichuan, not Hangzhou)?

I feel like this discussion has been hashed out on here, and on various other forums and places in the blogosphere, before...

Yes I completely agree with this Pooh, and that is the true tragedy of the tea world. The fact is is that 85% (made up percentage, obviously) of the tea people are drinking as DHP is not so. I fear that DHP in some aspects has indeed gone the way of Armani in that it's name is not necessarily an indicator of it's value.

I have definitely stumbled upon many a discussion regarding this subject so I agree in that it need not be talked about further.

However, regarding the matter of DTH's DHP (or not DHP) when I receive my package I will write a short review taking into consideration the price point the tea is at. I'm sure there are several people out there that may find this useful.

Few weeks ago i drank...hmm, real 2011 DHP? This tea is growing directly in Zhenyan, on the steep slopes of Buddha Country Cliff, located close to Six Da Hong Pao Mother Trees. This tea come directly from the Zhenyan Protected Area (World Heritage Site by UNESCO) in the Wuyi Mountain. This is a traditional area for producing Yan Cha. Methods of making and processing Oolong tea in Wuyishan were discovered around 1650 by local farmers. At present, you can still find very old trees in Zhenyan- some of them are more than 200 years old. The most famous are Six Da Hong Pao Mother Trees, they are still healthy and green; despite being 350 years old! Production of rock tea in Zhenyan is very difficult and limited. Zhenyan is only 70 square kilometers area with very steep slopes making tea cultivating a challenge for local farmers.

If we want compare this 2 teas. Its something like 100 to 0. But this from DTH is still very good to daily drinking, when we havent time. Lets compare prices. Real DHP 10$-10gram - DTH 13$-250 gram

Its big diffrent. In friday I want order DHP from DTH, i just have to change my cash(PLN) to USD

If we want compare this 2 teas. Its something like 100 to 0. But this from DTH is still very good to daily drinking, when we havent time. Lets compare prices. Real DHP 10$-10gram - DTH 13$-250 gram

Its big diffrent. In friday I want order DHP from DTH, i just have to change my cash(PLN) to USD

Hey Chado,

Thanks for the information. It is amazing to hear trees that old are doing well, but even more so that they are getting the respect they deserve! I agree with you in that it is not exactly fair to compare the 2 teas, but I am happy to hear DTH's is good enough for a daily drink, as this is what I wanted it for. Take care.

MrMang wrote:And you know Tim, it is in my experience when someone says they are not meaning to provoke that actually quite the opposite can be said. Why point it out if your intention was not to be provoking.

Not to say that you or Pooh were being provoking .

Happy Tea Moments,Mr. M

Er, um... Welcome to TeaChat??? Try not to feed the bears and poodles. It's is however ok to feed the bears poodles.